Tags: Tips

Perhaps THE most common question among recently arrived internationals in Denmark is, “How do I make Danish friends!?”.

In this video I delve into the topic, offer suggestions and a few comments that should ease you in the process and help you better understand why building Danish friendships can, at times, require an entirely different approach than you may be familiar with in your home culture.

Don’t miss Episode 6. where I talked more specifically about the process of meeting Danes. See it here.

Denmark and it’s residents are a fascinating group. In this video series I leverage my observations and research to share with you insights into how to get the most of your interactions with the Danes and your time in Denmark regardless of the duration of your visit. One day or ten years – my goal is to share observations I’ve made from my 5 years of living, studying, and working among the Danes.

If you’re Danish, hopefully you’ll find this series interesting, a bit informative, and not too outlandishly inaccurate. So far the feedback and input has been great and I look forward to continuing to further exploring Danish culture with you.

If you’re a foreigner coming to Denmark, I hope this helps you build upon observations and insights the rest of us had to find out the hard way.

Topics that will be covered include the Danish approach to nudity, how to make Danish friends, how to meet Danes, Danish manners, studying in Denmark, working here, traditions, key behaviors, taxes, dating and even a look at Janteloven.

Stay tuned for future updates – this is just the beginning! Can’t wait? Jump to YouTube and view all of the latest episodes and while there make sure to Subscribe!

**Sadly, due to recent events, I’m adding this note and suspending the series before completing Part III. In October and November 2016, an increase in violence in the northern regions has led to a number of village burnings and significant loss of life. As a result, I encourage anyone considering a visit to research events and the current status before making any decisions. For the time being, it looks like many of the recent gains made are being eroded.**
Welcome to Part II of my three part series exploring Myanmar. When we decided to visit Myanmar, we wanted to explore a country we knew very little about. You can read up on all of the misconceptions we had before going in this post. Just joining? Jump back to Part I here.

Myanmar (formerly Burma), is a wonderful country that recently started to open up again to travel. To recap my previous post, it’s; 1) safe 2) easy to get around 3 ) easy to access 4) still very affordable and, 5) already has a comfortable tourist infrastructure. For some familiar with the earthquake in August 2016, the majority of the damage was to repairs that had been made during a controversial series of repairs 10-20 years ago. In essence, it wiped the slate clean. Everything I’ve seen and read says that most of the temples and pagodas impacted are being repaired rapidly and will re-open soon, if they have not already done so.

It’s also worth noting that the famous balloons over Bagan only fly seasonally. So, if you go in July like we did, you will not see them. They’re also extremely expensive. Lastly, we didn’t fly, but apparently most of the material about the internal airlines being extremely unsafe is 2+ years out of date with the Government overhauling things and replacing aged aircraft with new ones.

Hear ye’, hear me!? After creating Denmark 101 videos on youtube for the last couple of years several of you pointed out that it would be much more convenient if you could consume my Denmark 101 series in a pure-audio/podcast format. So, after sitting down and chewing on a traditional Danish licorice pipe for a bit, I realized that you were, of course, absolutely right.

From there, it was only a matter of figuring out just how to make it happen. These days in addition to running VirtualWayfarer I also work full time with a standard 37+ hour work week and creating content is a fun passion, but also incredibly time consuming. Just for quick reference, let’s say I’ve shot 2,500 photos during a trip like my recent jaunt to Myanmar and Thailand. I’ll cut that to 1,000 which then get edited. I can edit most shots in, let’s optimistically say, about 45 seconds a piece on average. That means I’m looking at around 11-12 hours of pure editing time before I make the final cut and then spend an hour or two uploading, tagging, and labeling those photos. That’s not even beginning to discuss video and then writing the actual content here on the site.

This left me with a conundrum. How to make Denmark 101 more accessible for you, but without having to re-record 50+ episodes on top of the content I’m already committed to creating for you. Luckily, I’ve been working closely with my Dad to launch his podcast, Insights into Education [iTunes, Android], which provided me with a great excuse to flesh out my skills and learn just how Podcasting works before progressing with the Denmark 101 podcast. I also had the benefit of being able to pick Evo Terra‘s brain a bit who quite literally wrote the book on the topic and is a prolific podcaster.

The end result? The Denmark 101 podcast which is a hybrid that splices audio-pulled directly from the Denmark 101 videos, carefully edited and re-mastered, with added context and added structure. While the Denmark 101 video series is already at Episode 50, I’ll be posting one (or more) Denmark 101 Podcast episodes per week. As this post goes live, the first 9 Episodes of Denmark 101 are already available on iTunes and Android.

Wait, what’s Denmark 101?

In recent years Scandinavia, and in particular the Danes, have been the focus of a lot of attention. The Danish approach is unusual, it’s creative, and has a wonderful mixture of traditions and novel approaches to things which the rest of the world finds absolutely fascinating. Denmark 101 was initially launched as an effort to share my experiences and observations as a traveler, sojourner, and quasi-expat with a heavy cultural communication oriented background with new arrivals and visitors.

Over time, it’s evolved to be an exploration of Danish culture, traditions, and society that is often viewed more often by Danes curious about an outside perspective, than visitors preparing for a visit to Denmark. Topics that will be covered include the Danish approach to nudity, how to make Danish friends, how to meet Danes, Danish manners, and even a look at Janteloven.

My goal with Denmark 101 has to educate, and make observations, but to avoid the pitfalls that often plague expat narratives and commentary about their adopted cultures. I also seek to deep-dive into Danish culture far beyond the most casual and high level narrative which you’ll normally find on top 10 lists and basic guides scattered across the mediascape.

Ready to listen?

Sound interesting? You can find Denmark 101 in your iPhone’s podcast app where it’s free to stream. To jump to iTunes just click here. If you like what you hear please make sure to subscribe to the podcast to ensure you’re updated when new episodes are posted.

If you’re on your Desktop, use an Android device, or any other type of podcasting device you can access the feed directly via Libsyn here.

Denmark 101 is 100% free. My only request is that if you listen to and like the podcast, that you leave a review in iTunes or consider sharing it with friends, co-workers and family. You are my best advocates and are the key for helping the podcast take off.

**Sadly, due to recent events, I’m adding this note and suspending the series before completing Part III. In October and November 2016, an increase in violence in the northern regions has led to a number of village burnings and significant loss of life. As a result, I encourage anyone considering a visit to research events and the current status before making any decisions. For the time being, it looks like many of the recent gains made are being eroded.**

When we decided to visit Myanmar, we wanted to explore a country we knew very little about. You can read up on all of the misconceptions we had before going in this post.

We wanted to see Bagan, visit the amazing temples there, and to catch the one-legged paddling fishermen of Inle Lake if possible. Beyond that? We knew very little. The initial plan was to spend around 5 days in-country before continuing on to Laos. Ultimately, we decided to skip Laos completely and instead doubled up our visit to Myanmar.

Myanmar (formerly Burma), is a wonderful country that recently started to open up again to travel. To recap my previous post, it’s; 1) safe 2) easy to get around 3 ) easy to access 4) still very affordable and, 5) already has a comfortable tourist infrastructure. For some familiar with the earthquake in August 2016, the majority of the damage was to repairs that had been made during a controversial series of repairs 10-20 years ago. In essence, it wiped the slate clean. Everything I’ve seen and read says that most of the temples and pagodas impacted are being repaired rapidly and will re-open soon, if they have not already done so.

It’s also worth noting that the famous balloons over Bagan only fly seasonally. So, if you go in July like we did, you will not see them. They’re also extremely expensive. Lastly, we didn’t fly, but apparently most of the material about the internal airlines being extremely unsafe is 2+ years out of date with the Government overhauling things and replacing aged aircraft with new ones.

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Yangon

With Yangon we were expecting a bustling, loud, moped infested, smelly, impoverished capital city. What greeted us was an extremely clean city where mopeds and motorcycles are completely banned. We stayed in a small hostel just off of China Town which was the perfect spot for getting around. The taxi in from the airport was well regulated, no-nonsense and cost us 8,000 kyat (6.5 dollars or so).

Outside of fairly poor wifi and surprisingly high rates, the hostel was modern and everything a typical modern has to offer. Interestingly, throughout the trip we alternated between hotels and hostels. The hostels were often as/if not more expensive than 2-4 star hotels and usually ran between 10-20 USD a night per person. This might have been in part due to it being off-season, but I suspect it’s more just that they’ve figured out that people want the social atmosphere even if the price is similar to what they’d pay for a hotel room.…

Pick up a guide book or read a blog and it’ll probably still mention that Copenhagen’s spectacular museums are free. Tragically, due to the election of a pack of brutish neanderthals more than 8% of Denmark’s cultural budget will be cut over the next 4 years. This means Copenhagen’s public museums, including the National Museum of Denmark which is home to a lovely exhibit on Denmark’s prehistoric period, have been forced to impose hefty admission fees. The changes were implemented in April of 2016 and will remain in place for the foreseeable future or until a more intellectually focused government returns to power. For a political group that’s robustly vocal about preserving and celebrating Danish history and culture, they’ve manage to illustrate their commitment in the most peculiar of ways. These cuts have also led to the closure of the Royal Danish Navy Museum, which will be incorporated into the Royal Danish Arsenal Museum (Et tu, Brute?).

As of this post’s publication a day’s admission ticket to the National Museum costs 75 DKK for adults, the Open Air Museum costs 65 DKK, The Royal Danish Arsenal Museum costs 65 DKK, while the National Gallery costs 110 DKK. Other exhibits/museums within the network will also have admissions prices imposed. So, instead of serving as a refuge with knowledge and a budget friendly alternative to sitting in the rain, visitors to Copenhagen who encounter harsh weather should be prepared to shell out or ship out. Presumably the only group that’s actually happy about this change is the team behind the Copenhagen Card which may finally actually be worth purchasing.

There are also several changes at one of Copenhagen’s other most prominent and famous museums: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. While the museum has always charged, and currently charges 95 DKK for admission the free day has been moved to Tuesdays. Due to increased demand I’ve had reports that they’ve implemented a cue and ticket system, which makes walk-ins significantly more difficult on Tuesdays. They’ve also implemented a new charge (an additional 110 DKK) for the special exhibits which include a significant chunk of the museum including some of their primary art/painting collections.

So, if you’re planning a visit to Copenhagen, make sure you come prepared.

The Danish museums are, and remain, fantastic museums which are well worth the time and cost, so I still highly suggest you make an effort to go, or at the very least, to prioritize one or two if you’re on a tight budget. Keep your fingers crossed, and on this end we’ll continue to advocate for a restoration of the funding initiatives that made art, culture and history more accessible to everyone.

Christiania, one of Copenhagen’s most iconic tourist attractions, is on the cusp of a major makeover. The semi-autonomous “Free town” of Christiania sits nestled in the heart of central Copenhagen on an old military base and is most famous for Pusher Street and its Green Light District where Hash and Marijuana are openly sold despite being illegal in Denmark. The story goes that a group of hippy squatters moved into the base in the 70s and took it over. Since it started Christiania has been largely left alone and currently serves as home to roughly 900 people living in a self governed democracy.

In recent years there has been increasing pressure for Christiania to re-integrate. In part, this has been due to an increase in crime tied to Christiania’s famous “Pusher Street” as the vendors have pivoted from casual and friendly sales by local residents, to gangs and outside groups eager to peddle harder wares and who have an inclination towards violence. Added semi-frequent raids by the Copenhagen police have only served to further the divide.

Over the last few years there has been an uneasy truce. Police would periodically raid Christiania, or set up stop-and-search stations in the nearby Christianshavn metro station, but would otherwise largely leave Christiania alone. The aim has been to focus on driving re-integration through economic and political means by working to normalize the free town, working with its leadership, without stripping away much of what has made the community special.

All of this changed August 31st when two police officers and a civilian were shot by an armed dealer mid-arrest. The dealer was later shot and killed. At the heart of Christiania and Pusher Street there has always been a simple unwritten rule: No guns and no violence. It is part of what has differentiated Christiania and made it stand out as an exciting and welcoming experiment. A casual hippie free town, that focuses on artistry, quirks and living daily life, Christiania has always been a safe place, full of families, and which served as a crossroads between people from all different backgrounds and trades from bankers to boat hands, CEOs to young children and their families.…

**Sadly, due to recent events, I’m adding this note and suspending the series before completing Part III. In October and November 2016, an increase in violence in the northern regions has led to a number of village burnings and significant loss of life. As a result, I encourage anyone considering a visit to research events and the current status before making any decisions. For the time being, it looks like many of the recent gains made are being eroded.**

Despite hearing glowing stories about visits to Myanmar (formerly called Burma) from friends, it was with some trepidation and a significant sense of adventure that I booked the ticket for my brother and I from Copenhagen to Myanmar’s former capital, Yangon (formerly Rangoon). Most articles about Myanmar right now either focus on the drug trade/Golden Triangle, armed conflict in several of the remote regions, or gush about the importance of, “visiting Myanmar before it’s ruined”.

Frankly, we didn’t know what to expect. Was it going to be dangerous? Was it going to be massively under-developed? Was there any tourist infrastructure at all? Would the visa process be a nightmare? Would we need armed guards to guide us around the country or military minders ala North Korea? Were food poisoning and feces stained walls surrounding filthy squattypotties lurking around every corner?

As usual, it was ignorant pigswill.

Myanmar is spectacular and the sooner you can visit the better. The people are wonderful. The tourist circle; Yangon to Bagan to Mandalay to Inle Lake and back to Yangon could not be safer. The food is decent. The culture is vibrant. The tourist infrastructure is rapidly evolving (perhaps too rapidly). Getting around isn’t difficult. It’s relatively affordable. The historical, natural and cultural beauty is spectacular.…

Ahh yes, the Icelandic Horse. Famed for their beauty, their charm and their long-flowing majestic Fabio-esque locks. For years I’ve seen dramatic photos of Iceland’s famed horses cutting the most perfect poses. At times they’d feature wild eyes and a raw untamed beauty which seemed to practically whisper “Iceland”. Other photos feature raven colored locks blown by the wind and snow that would surely put even Jon Snow to shame. Though, one can’t muse on Jon Snow’s obsidian locks without also paying homage to the rugged feminine beauty of Ygritte, but she too faces the most flattering of challengers in the bonfire-lit-beauty of many a native Icelandic horse’s flowing ginger mane.

The only problem was…when I got to Iceland, I seemed to find their B team. Who knows, perhaps the others had all been called to the East to film the final two seasons of Game of Thrones. Or, perhaps I just caught them celebrating having survived the final battle in Season 6th. Either way…these were MY Icelandic horses. Crazy beautiful? Or just crazy. I’ll let you decide.

Alex Berger

In 2007 I set out on a three month solo trip through Europe. I've been authoring VirtualWayfarer ever since with a focus on sharing stories, musings, and advice through a visually and narrative rich format.

I'm a former M&A professional from Arizona who re-located to Copenhagen, Denmark five years ago. I currently work as a Product Marketing Manager in the ad tech industry while simultaneously authoring this blog.

All opinions expressed on this site are mine alone and do not represent my employer.